The Effect of Blu-Ray Disc on Computer CD and DVD Burners.

Blu-ray discs are the next generation of DVD’s. While one may think Blu-ray disc are just for watching movies in higher quality video, the advantages of Blu-ray goes way beyond movies.

Blu-ray was developed by a consortium of manufacturers to meet the ever increasing needs of digital consumers and onset of high definition video. The name for Blu-ray discs (BD) came from combining the specific Blue Violet Laser technology used to read and write to the new discs and the general method known as Optical Ray; used by all computer CD and DVD burners.

With more capacity and stability Blu-ray presents distinct advantages over conventional DVDs, so expect them to become the norm for digital discs. Fortunately, most Blu-ray drives and players are backwards compatible with DVDs, so you can upgrade capability without turning all your current discs into coasters.

The reason that Blu-ray discs are better quality for movies is because they hold a lot more data, meaning more information can be used and reproduced – resulting in higher resolution and viewing quality. Blu-ray compatible read and write drives, however, can burn and read Blu-ray discs just like a regular computer CD and DVD burner, except that it can hold a lot more files, songs, videos and any other data form.

While a common DVD can hold about 4.7 GB of data, and dual layer around 8.7 GB, Blu-ray discs can hold 25 GB and dual layer Blu-ray discs hold 50 GB. That means a dual-layer Blu-ray disc can hold about 9 hours of HD video and about 24 hours of standard definition video. This is useful as resolutions for television screens get bigger, so too does a movies size. In order to fit a movie onto one disc, you require more space. The better the movie quality, the more space is required. Eventually the fact of the matter is that DVDs will be too small to hold a single movie, so eventually the Blu-ray will erase the DVD for movie playback, but whereas audio advances are seen, music may migrate to the DVD and phase out the CD.

In addition to the much higher storage capacity, the other great advantage of Blu-ray discs is their durability. They have a special coating that helps prevent scratches and marks that degrade performance. This also helps Blu-ray discs to be more stable for a longer period of time. And this is just the beginning the pathway for Blu-ray discs and players predicts future capabilities of higher storage possibilities that will surely remove the well served computer CD and DVD burners.

For a while there were two formats of higher density digital discs – Blu-ray and HD DVDs. However, Blu-ray discs were superior, particularly in capacity, and HD discs were discontinued in 2008. Who knows how long optical discs will be around for, but the future of high capacity discs surely looks like the Blu-ray.